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August~~
4 Weeks
8/2 - 8/27
$20/$25
Dialogue That Dazzles
Instructor: Lori Wilde
Registration Deadline: 8/1/10
Dialogue that dazzles is about creating the most exciting, compelling conversations you’ve ever written. Stellar dialogue can make you story leap to life the way nothing else can. If you’ve gotten comments from editors and agents that your dialogue is trite or stilted or dull, we’ve got the cure for you.
This workshop is designed to teach you how to write fresh, natural dialogue that dazzles. You’ll learn new techniques for rewriting any lines of dialogue and improving them spectacularly. You’ll uncover secrets of incorporating these methods into your writing style. Learn how to make your dialogue stand out and dramatically increase your chances of selling your book!
Topics covered include:
1. What is great dialogue?
2. Using dialogue to breathe life into your characters
3. Creating expressive language
4. People rarely say what they mean--subtext
5. Subtext part 2
6. Structuring dialogue to match real conversations
7. Dusting your book with dazzling dialogue
8. And much more
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4 Weeks
8/2 - 8/27
$20/$25
Courting the Muse
Instructor: Tawny Weber
Registration deadline: 8/1/10
Courting the Muse – Practical and Spiritual Tools for Writers: The art of recognizing, then making the most of your writing habits.
In this workshop we’ll discuss how custom create your own writing habit. One that will not only help you as you pursue your writing goals, but pull you through the frustrations you might encounter along the way. We’ll discuss setting as it applies to your writing, description as it applies to your visualization of success and conflict as it applies to the setbacks in pursuit of publishing greatness. In addition, this workshop will show you ways to use tools like aromatherapy, Feng Shui and the tarot to empower your writing, and yourself on the road to success.
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4 Weeks
8/2 - 8/27
$20/$25
Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Grammar & Style But Didn’t Think It Really Mattered
Instructor: Annie Oortman
Registration deadline: 8/1/10
Grammar-crammer… who cares about how verb tenses; dangled, misplaced, and squinted modifiers; and that dreaded passive voice? You should!
Most people would rather have a paper cut on the inside of their lip than learn better grammar. But good writing
requires good grammar. Without it, you can’t really be sure your reader will understand the information you’re
trying to convey, the story you’re trying to tell, and the mental picture you’re trying to paint.
First, we’ll go over the basics to ensure you haven’t forgotten everything from school. Then, we’ll move onto
issues that affect sentence structure and paragraph development. Next, we’ll review the finer points of
punctuation and style as well as common grammar errors. Then, we’ll show you how to enhance your writing’s
curb appeal to make the most of your writing’s appearance, readability, and impact. After that, we’ll demonstrate
how cutting the fat from your writing is the quickest and surest way to improve your writing. Finally, we’ll solve
some crimes against sentence, sharing the grammatical forensics you can use to uncover evidence of poor
writing and troubleshoot problem sentences.
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September~~
4 Weeks
9/6 - 10/1 $20/$25
Brick by Brick: Using Structure to Write and Revise
Instructor: Melissa Blue
Registration deadline: 7/4/10
Has writing or revising an entire novel ever felt like you were about to scale Mount Everest? The project too big, the problems too insurmountable? Well, the bad news is writing and revising a novel is never going to be easy. The process can be easier and less painful than banging your head on a wall. The structure of a scene and the structure of a novel can be used to not only create new material but to diagnose troublesome parts while revising.
What you'll learn during the workshop:
The overall goal for your character and/or of your story
Simple structure of a scene
Three Act Structure of a novel
Four Turning Points—points in a novel where the character changes
4 Weeks
9/6 - 10/1
$20/$25
The Journey Cycle
Instructor: Robin Matheson
Registration deadline: 9/5/10
Is your protagonist poised at the Edge of the Forest, negotiating the Trail of Breadcrumbs, or facing the Mirror on the Wall? To reach a satisfying ending to any story, be it romance or another genre, each step in the Journey requires careful deliberation if your hero or heroine is to pass the Glass Slipper Test.
This course uses the familiar, symbolic world of Fairy Tales to reinterpret the Hero’s Journey into easy to understand motifs. As a story building tool, the course examines key issues and poses a series of questions about each stage to help writers “troubleshoot” their way to the next “level”. A 2-part assignment is included with each of the 12 lectures.
Whether you are seeking a better understanding of the journey process to create a stronger story structure or you are looking for some brainstorming ideas to conquer a certain leg of that journey, this course is for you!
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4 Weeks
9/6 - 10/1
$20/$25
Finding the Book Ho in You
Instructor Candace Havens
Registration deadline: 9/5/10
As writers, the majority of are introverts at heart. We like to sit in front of our computer and write about made up worlds. But there's a big world out there, one that if you want to be successful, you have to learn how to handle. This class isn't just for those who have sold, finding the book ho begins before you ever finish that first manuscript. Candace Havens will teach you how to talk about your writing and books; how to promote your books without the hard sell; and how to pretend to be confident even when you aren't. These are out of the box techniques that take you and your work to the next level._____________________________________________________________
4 Weeks
9/6 - 10/1
$20/$25
Show, Don't Tell
Instructor: Martha Engber
Registration Deadline: 9/5/10
Show, don’t tell has got to be one of the most oft-spoken phrases in all writerdom and one that dogs determined scribes without mercy. We think we’re showing, showing, showing, when really we’re telling, telling, telling.
So why not tell? Look at all the fabulously famous writers who do!
Then again, if we’re not fabulously famous and want to be, or if we just want to be the best writers possible, should we really succumb to telling readers exactly what our characters are thinking at all times?
______________________________________________________________________October~~
4 Weeks
10/4 - 10/29
$20/$25
Plotting From Theme
Instructor: Lori Wilde
Registration deadline: 10/3/10
Theme will enrich a book faster than any other single element. Theme is a tool that drives a story on a deeper level. Think of theme as like the love in a marriage. It’s the core reason your story exists. Implications of theme colors and shapes everything in the story. It permeates character and the plot. Theme speculates on a possible truth. It is not an answer or law, but a supposition, a questioning, an exploration of potential.
This course seeks to teach you how to plot your story from the standpoint of theme first, story events second to produce a cohesive blueprint that will make building the backbone of your book easier.
Topics covered include:
1)The tyranny of theme.
2) Theme defined
3)Characters and Theme
4)Plot and Theme
5)Props, Symbols and Motifs
6)Closed themes versus open themes
7)Make your story sing through theme
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4 Weeks
10/1 - 10/29
$20/$25
Editing
Instructor: Barri Bryan
Registration deadline: 10/3/10
The art of fiction writing can improve, but it can't be learned or taught. A good story teller is born with the ability to see things in a creative, imaginative way. As a fiction writer, you should immerse yourself in your work without looking too long or hard at rules and forms.
The process of writing fiction is a skill. The study of any skill requires the mastery of certain basic principles. Those principles are both teachable and learnable. Like any other craft, fiction writing involves trial and error and improves with study and practice.
When you move from writing your story to editing your story, you shift from fiction writing to writing fiction. The best way to improve fiction writing is to improve the process by which it is created. Knowledge of style and correctness not only facilitates creativity; it is, in itself, a part of the message.
Editing involves three steps that work best of they are done sequentially. Those three steps are:
Edit first for content – Is this what I want to say? (Reread)
Edit next for structure - Is this the way I want to say it? (Re-envision)
Edit last for mechanics, punctuation and usage – Have I said it in the clearest most concise way possible? (Rewrite)
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4 Weeks
10/1 - 10/29
$20/$25
Publishing in Today's Market
Instructor: Sandy Blair
Registration deadline: 10/3/10
Goal: To help clarify for aspiring authors the advantages and disadvantages of traditional publishers versus e-publishers versus vanity publishers with regard to advances, editing, copyright issues such as period length, foreign, film and e-rights, book distribution and promotion. We'll also discuss the pitfalls associated with "author mills" and the means to identify them.
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November~~
4 Weeks
11/2 - 11/26
$20/$25
Story Aerobics: Shaping Up Sagging Middles
Instructor: Raquel Rodriguez
Registration deadline: 11/1/10
After a brilliant start, does your story slow down and loose it's sparkle? Do your characters run out of things to say? Too early in the story for a love scene, and you don't have a dead body to thrown in?
Learn how to confront these stumbling blocks that cause your problem scenes with a few simple steps and exercises. Learn to define the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the real situation. Recognize how your story choices can help strengthen motivation, or change the direction for more realistic conflicts. Learn how not to get stuck on minor characters or problematic scenes, and put your time into pages that will move your plot forward. Get to the heart of the difficulty and extrapolate the answer to get your scene flowing again to engage your reader.
Areas covered:
- Enhance your tension
- Up the stakes
- Add realistic conflict
- Cutting "deadwood" to move your story forward
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4 Weeks
11/2 - 11/26
$20/$25
Goal Setting
Instructor: Tawny Weber
Registration deadline: 11/1/10
Create a solid, workable plan to make all your dreams come true. Want to sell a book? Hit a list? Snag that perfect-for-you agent? This workshop will give you solid, time-tested tools to help you make all of those dreams happen. Dreams to Reality is a method of using goal setting, personal empowerment and planning to get from where you are to where you want to be – in your writing career and in your life.
Isn’t it time you made your dreams into reality?
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4 Weeks
11/2 - 11/26
$20/$25
Designed to Sell
Instructor: Annie Oortman
Registration deadline: 11/1/10
In today’s buyer’s market, anything you can do to enhance your manuscript’s appeal puts you one step ahead of everyone else trying to sell. By taking a look at your writing with a fresh eye, you’ll discover ways to make the most of your writing’s appearance, readability, and impact.
The Grammar Divas (an English teacher and a professional copywriter) share episodes of popular writing improvement shows such as Dream Words, This Old Sentence, Extreme Makeover: Paragraph Edition, Trading Spaces, Fun Shui, and Designed to Sell. You leave the workshop with decorating ideas, remodeling projects, and prose improvements that can make your manuscript appealing to a potential buyer… an editor!
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